IRISH INTEREST GROUPS: PLURALIST OR NEO-CORPORATIST? AN EXAMINATION OF ELITE ATTITUDES, GROUP STRUCTURES, AND ACTIVITIES (CORPORATISM; IRELAND, POLITICS)
Abstract
Since the 1970s much of the research done in Comparative Politics has focused on neo-corporatism in the democratic settings of Western Europe. This dissertation explores the applicability of the pluralist and neo-corporatist models of group politics to the Republic of Ireland. Using a theoretical framework based upon the works of P. C. Schmitter and F. L. Wilson, the study analyzes the structures, elite attitudes, and activities of Irish interest groups. The research is based upon interviews conducted, during 1983-1984 in Ireland, with 90 representatives of 84 sectional and attitudinal groups. In addition to analyses of findings from both open- and close-ended questions, examination was made of pertinent publications of the Irish government and of the interest groups. Certain patterns of structures of interest groups, elite attitudes, and forms of group activity can be expected to develop from the pluralist and neo-corporatist models presented in the study. Elite attitudes toward the political system, their access to decision-makers, and their motives for and expectations from participation in policy-making are discussed. The number of groups, the degree of competition within and between interest sectors, group autonomy, and elite/mass relations are analyzed. Assessment is also made of such group strategies as formal and informal contacts, parliamentary lobbying, mobilization of public opinion, demonstrations, and recourse to legal bodies and to the EEC. Despite some surface manifestations of neo-corporatism, Irish interest groups more closely resemble the pluralist than the neo-corporatist model of politics. Suggestions are made in the dissertation as to why there is a notable lack of neo-corporatism in Ireland. If we do not find evidence of neo-corporatism in a nation which appears to offer a suitable environment for its development, then there are serious implications for the utility of the neo-corporatist approach to the study of policy-making. These implications are presented in the dissertation. The results of this study cast doubt on the popularly-held notion that there is an inevitable and irreversible trend toward neo-corporatism in the industrial states of Europe.
Degree
Ph.D.
Subject Area
Political science
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